Underwater swimming aid

ABSTRACT

A manually operated underwater swimming aid for use in propelling a diver or swimmer below the surface of the water. The aid facilitates such propulsion through oscillating motion imparted by the diver to a pair of resilient planar blades. The blades are anchored to an axial support which includes an enclosed air cavity to permit neutral buoyancy of the aid. Handles are provided rearward of the support for gripping by the swimmer. Subsequent manual application of oscillating torque forces to the handles about the longitudinal axis of the aid flex the blades into a propeller configuration to pull the swimmer through the water.

United States Patent 1 Picken Oct. 30, 1973 UNDERWATER SWIMMING AID [76] Inventor: James B. Picken, 13103 E. 13th,

Spokane, Wash. 99216 [22] Filed: Feb. 28, 1972 [2]] Appl. No.: 229,856

[52] U.S. Cl. 115/223, 114/16 A [51] B63h 16/00 [58] Field of Search 115/21, 22.3, 22.1, 115/222, 28 R; 9/301, 303, 307; 114/16 A,

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 5/1970 Eriksen ..9/307 6/1926 Scroggins ..115/22.1

FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 273,226 Great Britain 115/28 Primary ExaminerMilton Buchler Assistant Examiner-Charles E. Frankfort Attorney-Greek Wells et al.

[57] ABSTRACT A manually operated underwater swimming aid for use in propelling a diver or swimmer below the surface of the water. The aid facilitates such propulsion through oscillating motion imparted by the diver to a 'pair of resilient planar blades. The blades are anchored to an axial support which includes an enclosed air cavity to permit neutral buoyancy of the aid. Handles are provided rearward of the support for gripping by the swimmer. Subsequent manual application of oscillating torque forces to the handles about the longitudinal axis of the aid flex the blades into a propeller configuration to pull the swimmer through the water.

4 Claims, 4 Drawing Figures UNDERWATER SWIMMING AID BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The use of arms and hands for propulsion purposes when swimming underwater is considerably less efficient than their use when swimming on the surface. When on the surface a swimmer may complete a power stroke, lift his arm from the water and reach forwardly to begin the next power stroke. The underwater swimmer, however, loses forward momentum by the resistance of water against his arms as they return from the end of a power stroke. Underwater swimmers therefore usually swim without using their arms for propulsion purposes.

Various prior art devices which realize the above problem to some degree are the Drummond U. S. Pat. No. 3,407,419, the Griffith US. Pat. No. 3,097,375, The Schmitt U. S. Pat. No. 1,888,867, the Meadows U. S. Pat. No. 1,548,054 and the Eriksen U. S. Pat. No. 3,510,894.

The Drummond, Griffith and Schmitt Patents all disclose swimming aids which utilize a foldable blade or blades which open to present an areal surface for maximum resistance against the water during a power stroke and then fold for minimum resistance during the return stroke.

The Eriksen Patent llustrates a unitary, buoyant foam article for use in the same manner as a double-ended canoe paddle for propelling a swimmer on the surface.

The present invention was conceived to allow a swimmer to propel himself underwater by oscillating a pair of resilient planar blades about the longitudinal axis of an axial support. The oscillating motion imparted to the aid by the swimmer serves to alternately flex the blades into a propeller configuration creating a rearward thrust which pulls him along in a forward direction. The blades are designed to create a rearward thrust from either clockwise or counter clockwise torque forces thereby eliminating momentary, inefficient lapses between power strokes. When in operation the swimming aid delivers substantially continuous rearward thrust to pull the swimmer forward.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The invention basically comprises an underwater swimming aid having a rigid axial support of circular cross section with a pair of laterally extending arms fixed to either side thereof. The axis of the arms and the longitudinal axis of the axial support are perpendicular to one another and coplanar. A pair of elongated resilient planar blades are pivotably fixed rearwardly of the respective arms and are rigidly fixed at their inward ends to the axial support. The support includes means by which an underwater swimmer may grasp and manually oscillate the aid about the longitudinal axis. The resilient blades transform oscillating torque forces about the longitudinal axis of the support into a rearward lineal thrust along that axis which is utilized to pull the swimmer.

The axial support is sufficiently buoyant to neutralize the weight of the complete assembly.

It is a first object of my invention to provide an underwater swimming aid which will assist a diver or swimmer to move swiftly while underwater.

Another object is to provide such an aid that is manually operable, requiring no motors or batteries.

An additional object is to provide such an aid that need not be fastened to the divers body and may therefore be easily abandoned in case of emergency.

A still further object is to provide such an aid that is simple in construction, inexpensive to purchase and relatively maintenance free.

These and further objects and advantages will become evident upon reading the following disclosure with reference to the accompanying drawings which illustrate a preferred form of my invention.

A BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is an orthographic plan view of the swimming aid;

FIG. 2 is an orthographic elevation of the object of FIG. 1 showing a portion of the axial support broken away and the alternate positions of the blades during a power stroke in dotted lines;

FIG. 3 is an orthographic side view of the object of FIG. 1; and

FIG. 4 is a view similar to FIG. 1 only showing the aid grasped by a diver in an operative position.

DESCRIPTION OF A PREFERRED EMBODIMENT The swimming aid basically comprising a preferred embodiment of my invention is shown in the attached drawings. The swimming aid includes an axial support, indicated by the reference numeral 10, having transversely protruding extension means 14 and a rearwardly extending bracket 22 which supports a pair of hand grips 23, 25.

Axial support 10 as seen in FIGS. 1 and 2 is circular in cross section and elongated, extending along a longitudinal axis 11. Both ends of support 10 are closed, defining an enclosed air space 13 which offsets the weight of the remaining parts of the swimming aid when underwater, creating a neutral buoyancy. The front end 12 of support 10 is conical in configuration to present a minimum of resistance to forward movement of the apparatus through the water in a direction along axis 1 l.

A pair of rigid extensions project transversely from opposite sides of support 10 along a transverse axis 15 perpendicular to and in the same plane as longitudinal axis 1 1. In the illustrated forms of the swimming aid the extensions comprise a pair of arms in the form of elongated rods 16 which are rigidly fixed to support 10 and extend transversely therefrom along axis 15. Each rod 16 is itself rigid and pivotably supports a planar blade 17 constructed of relatively thin sheets of nylon or other resilient material. Blades 17 are mounted rearwardly adjacent to rods 16 and extend transversely from the outer end of each rod 16 inwardly to a position adjacent support 10.

The inward ends of blades 17 are anchored to bracket 22 by rivets 21 or other adequate fastening means. Rivets 21 extend through the upper surface of bracket 22 through blades 17 and subsequently through the lower surface of bracket 22 thereby sandwiching inner blade ends 20. This rigid longitudinal connection serves to impart a degree of longitudinal stiffness to blade 17 during operation.

The inner ends 20 of blades 17 provide the only longitudinal stationary mounting point, the remainder of blades 17 being pivotably mounted to rods 16 by transversely spacedhinges 18. Hinges 18 may be separate or integral parts of blades 17 and are spaced along rods 16 to allow the blades 17 to pivot about transverse axis within angular limits determined by the rigid connection to support 10 at inside ends 20. Since rods 16 are substantially rigid, the leading edge of blades 17 adjacent rods 16 remain equally rigid. Therefore when the aid is turned about axis 1 1, inside ends 20 and the leading edges of blades 17 will remain stationary while the outside and trailing portions of the blades will flex due to the resistance of the water. Flexion of these blade parts while the leading edges and inner ends 20 remain relatively stationary results in the propeller configurations seen in dotted lines in FIG. 2.

An important feature of my invention is illustrated in FIG. 2 by dotted lines. When the aid is oscillated underwater about axis 11, blades 17 alternately flex in a propeller configuration against the water to drive the aid forward whether the aid is pivoted clockwise or counter-clockwise about axis 11. It may be understood then that the operation of the aid involves no return stroke or lag between power strokes to impede the forward progress of the operator.

It should be further noted that since each blade 17 is the mirror image of the other and is spaced equidistance from axis 11, the resultant rearward thrust when the aid is in operation is balanced along axis 11 and directed along a path perpendicular to the vertical plane in which blades 17 are oscillated.

Bracket 22 extends rearwardly from rigid connection with support 10 and rods 16 to support a pair of handles 23 and 25. Handles 23 and 25 are fixed to bracket 22 to extend symmetrically and transversely from axis 1 1.

As seen in FIG. 4, handle 23 may be grasped by the swimmers right hand and handle 25 by his left hand. Handles 23 and 25 serve as lever arms during operation of the aid to apply oscillating torque forces to blades 17 about axis 11. The swimmer initiates these forces by twisting one handle downwardly while simultaneously twisting upwardly on the other handle, then subsequently reversing the direction of force to thereby oscillate blades 17 about axis 1 1 as indicated by the directional arrows in FIG. 2. The oscillating forces imparted by the swimmer serve to flex the blades 17 into the previously described propeller configurations which transfer the torque forces to a resultant linear rearward thrust along the longitudinal axis 11. This thrust pulls the swimming aid and swimmer forwardly at a speed proportional to the force applied to handles 23 and 25.

A further feature of my invention stems from the characteristic of the aid to resist pivotal movement about axis 11. This resistance may be utilized by a diver or swimmer to easily turn himself to or from an upward or downwardly facing position, a movement usually involving a considerable expenditure of energy. The swimmer, when using the aid, may maintain his equalibrium against the torque required to operate the aid by timing the normal power kicks of his legs to directly oppose the direction of torque.

As seen in FIG. 4, the aid may be operated at the extended position of the swimmers arms where interference with other equipment is nearly impossible. Also, I have found that operation of the aid from this position provides greater stability and steering capability to the swimmer.

It may be obvious, from the above description, that various changes and modifications may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

What I claim is:

1. An underwater swimming aid, comprising:

a center support adapted to be hand-held by an underwater swimmer for manual oscillating pivotal movement of the center support about a center longitudinal axis aligned along the intended direction of movement of the swimmer;

a pair of rigid extensions projecting transversely outward from the respective sides of the center support;

a pair of transverse blades mounted respectively to the rigid extensions for free independent pivotal movement of the blades relative to the center support about transverse axes in response to the resistive force of surrounding water, each blade extending rearwardly from the rigid extension to which it is mounted;

the rigid extensions and blades being symmetrical about the center longitudinal axis;

the total buoyancy of the center support, rigid extensions and blades being substantially neutral in water.

2. The swimming aid set out in claim 1 wherein the length of each blade is substantially greater than its dimension parallel to the center longitudinal axis.

3. The swimming aid set out in claim 1 further comprising:

means for limiting the angular movement of each blade about its respective axis relative to the center support.

4. The swimming aid set out in claim 1 wherein the center section further comprises:

transversely spaced hand grips at opposite sides of the center longitudinal axis, each grip being aligned perpendicular to the center longitudinal axis. 

1. An underwater swimming aid, comprising: a center support adapted to be hand-held by an underwater swimmer for manual oscillating pivotal movement of the center support about a center longitudinal axis aligned along the intended direction of movement of the swimmer; a pair of rigid extensions projecting transversely outward from the respective sides of the center support; a pair of transverse blades mounted respectively to the rigid extensions for free independent pivotal movement of the blades relative to the center support about transverse axes in response to the resistive force of surrounding water, each blade extending rearwardly from the rigid extension to which it is mounted; the rigid extensions and blades being symmetrical about the center longitudinal axis; the total buoyancy of the center support, rigid extensions and blades being substantially neutral in water.
 2. The swimming aid set out in Claim 1 wherein the length of each blade is substantially greater than its dimension parallel to the center longitudinal axis.
 3. The swimming aid set out in claim 1 further comprising: means for limiting the angular movement of each blade about its respective axis relative to the center support.
 4. The swimming aid set out in claim 1 wherein the center section further comprises: transversely spaced hand grips at opposite sides of the center longitudinal axis, each grip being aligned perpendicular to the center longitudinal axis. 